It’s official: The presidents of the seven Big East basketball-only schools, in a joint statement, announced Saturday that they were leaving the conference en masse.

All that remains are the legal battles over exit fees, NCAA Tournament revenue, the Big East name, the contract with Madison Square Garden and the timing of the divorce.

While lawyers fight over the details, there is no debating: It’s over.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova—a group that includes four charter members of the league—are leaving the conference. The group met for the third time in seven days on Saturday, this time via a conference call, and confirmed what had been reported for days.

“Earlier today, we voted unanimously to pursue an orderly evolution to a foundation of basketball schools that honors the history and tradition on which the Big East was established," the school presidents said in a statement Saturday afternoon. "Under the current context of conference realignment, we believe pursuing a new basketball framework that builds on this tradition of excellence and competition is the best way forward.

“We look forward to building this new foundation with an emphasis on elite competition and a commitment to the development of our students engaged in intercollegiate athletics. That is where we will now spend our energy as we move forward.”

The Catholic 7, as they’re being called, can exit the league on June 30, 2015, without having to pay an exit fee. To leave earlier, the seven schools would have to negotiate a fee with the league.

The divorce is less about revenue—as long as it’s close to even—so much as it is about the Big East no longer having the basketball schools’ best interests in mind.

"I don't blame them,'' Cincinnati basketball coach Mick Cronin said Saturday. "My take is it's a shame that football, one sport, has dictated all this. The money that one sport is swinging around is swaying universities to make decisions. Don't tell me that people care about student-athletes.

"It's all ridiculous. Let's call it what it is. I've thought about this long and hard and I've waited to say this. If it's all about money and money grabbing, the players need to get paid.''

By the seven Catholic schools sticking together, they can keep their automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament under NCAA rules. The remaining Big East schools probably will get to retain their automatic bid as well after going through an NCAA appeals process, NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt told ESPN. This would mean the automatic bids for the NCAA Tournament would increase from 31 to 32.

"St. John's would love to keep the Big East name," said the Rev. Donald J. Harrington, St. John's president. "I would like to hear what the football schools think and then try to make a compromise."

This exodus certainly further hinders the Big East’s media rights negotiations. Last week, CBS Sports projected the value of the conference’s media rights at between $60 and $80 million annually. An industry source told ESPN that the figure likely is closer to $50 million.

The Big East's media rights deal for basketball expires after the 2012-13 season, and the football contract for the league expires after the 2013-14 season.

The Big East has been desperately trying to keep the league together for football purposes by adding several schools as full and football-only members. Houston, SMU, Memphis, Central Florida (all in 2013) and Tulane (2014) are set to join as full Big East members. Boise State, San Diego State (both in '13), East Carolina ('14) and Navy ('15) are set to join as football-only members.

It is unknown how a potential basketball exodus would affect those schools with plans to join the Big East in coming seasons.

THE FOOTBALL SCHOOLS

Officials told Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy on Friday that Cincinnati and UConn are exploring the creation of a cross-continent all-sports league involving disenfranchised members of the Big East as well as the most prominent members of the Mountain West.

The proposed entrants would be UConn, Cincinnati, South Florida, Memphis, Temple, Boise State, San Diego State, UNLV, New Mexico and possibly BYU or Central Florida. Such a league would include football programs that are comparable and competitive, as well as extraordinary basketball featuring eight teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season. NBC Sports Network is likely to be approached to gauge its interest in such a property.

“Conference realignment is a story that is still being told,” Cincinnati athletics director Whit Babcock said in a statement. “Like our fans, students, donors and alumni, I will be glad when all of this is over. I cannot tell you how, when or where it will end, but I can tell you that UC is positively committed to competing at the highest level. I do not know the time frame for the endgame of all of this. We will not have the answers overnight."

Should the “Transcontinental Conference” became a reality, it would include three former NCAA basketball champions (UConn, Cincinnati, UNLV) and two others with multiple Final Four appearances (Memphis, Temple). Plus, UConn, Cincinnati and Boise State have all made BCS bowl games in the past five seasons.

THE BASKETBALL SCHOOLS

The Catholic 7 are expected to form their own league and seek to add three to five top-flight basketball-dominant athletics programs.

The primary targets would be Butler, Xavier and Dayton from the Atlantic 10. Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 and Creighton of the Missouri Valley also could be viable but only if the league wanted 12 members instead of 10. VCU of the Atlantic 10 and George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association would be long shots. Despite major geographic challenges, Gonzaga athletics director Mike Roth said this week that his school would be interested in joining the Big East Seven in a new league, too.

"It's really premature at this time to know who might join what we're calling the core group of seven schools,” Harrington said. “We do know that there is interest, but we really will give discussions with other schools great attention in the months ahead obviously. ... We would estimate 10 or 12 members are probably where we would want to be, but we want to make sure we have the strength. That's the important thing."